Eating out drives up New Zealand electronic card spending

Drinking and dining out helped drive up the amount New Zealanders spent on their debit and credit cards last month, the government statistics agency announced Tuesday. The value of electronic card spending in the retail industries rose 0.9 percent to 5.7 billion NZ dollars (4.83 billion U.S. dollars) in February, according to Statistics New Zealand. "Most of the extra spending this month was in durables and hospitality," industry and labor statistics manager Blair Cardno said in a statement. "Hospitality in particular has had a number of large rises in recent months." The hospitality industry includes accommodation, bars, cafes and restaurants, and takeaways, while durables includes furniture, hardware and appliance retailing. Core retail, excluding the motor vehicle-related industries, rose by 1.1 percent in February.